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TAMIL NADU The Tamil Nadu government - passed a bill to promote ‘Contract farming’ in

the state - on February 14, 2019

The bill seeks to set up an authority – Contract Farming and Services (promotion

and facilitation) Authority – to encourage small and marginal farmers to pool in land for collective farming

As per the terms of the partnership, the sponsor would agree to professionally manage inputs, technology, extension education, pre and post-harvest infrastructure and services

Under the scheme, a group of farmers can sign an agreement with traders to supply products at a forecast price before the start of cultivation

This was announced in the budget of 2018-19 and again mentioned in the 2019-20 budget

Contract farming is a preproduction season agreement between farmers (either individually or collectively) and sponsors

Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami – announced an allocation of Rs 6.3

crore to set up memorials for freedom fighters and caste leaders of the past Among the projects will be a memorial in Kanyakumari for Kavimani

Desigavinayagam Pillai, for Mutharayar in Trichy, for Rettamalai Srinivasan near Maduranthakam in Kancheepuram, for V K Palaniswami Gounder in Coimbatore, for A T Panneerselvam in Trichy and a dome with a statue for Allal Eliya Nayakar in Namakkal district.

Libraries would come up on such memorial premises

EVERYDAY CURRENT AFFAIRS – FEBRUARY 15, 2019

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The Tamil Nadu government – has allocated Rs 10 crore and identified 3 different spots in and around Chennai - to develop centres for Olympic sports — rowing, sailing and kayaking-canoeing

New Centres

Academy for sailing – at Marina beach Centre for kayaking and canoeing - at a quarry in Melkottaiyur on

Kelambakkam - Vandalur Road (600 m long and 5m deep) A 2.9-km stretch for Rowing - on Buckingham canal, at Thoraipakkam

IIT-Madras has been conducting a technical study to help the government comply with the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) norms and get other regulatory clearances

The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) will be in charge of maintaining these facilities

At present, the country is having only one rowing course in Pune, which is 2 km long

The Tamil Nadu Government – to announce the formation of an independent

agency for cybercrimes soon The proposed agency will deal with all cybercrime cases, including white collar

offences such as land grabbing, cheating and bank frauds. The specialized unit will function under a special unit like the CB-CID to handle all

the cybercrime-related cases, headed by an additional director-general of police (ADGP)

Earlier, there was only one cybercrime wing in every district headquarters under the direct control of the superintendents of police and commissioners of police concerned – dealing with the cases of lost mobiles and later to track down the suspect‘s cellphone tower locations

At present, the city police have an exclusive cybercrime unit and the CB-CID has another unique cyber lab

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Tamil Nadu – to launch the pan-India single emergency helpline number ‘112’ from February 19

A single number based emergency service will connect to the police, fire, health and other helplines through an emergency response centre (ERC) in the state

An Emergency Response Centre (ERC) will be established in the headquarters along with district command centres (DCCs), covering the entire state

The service also includes a ‗112 India‘ mobile app that is integrated with a panic button for smartphones and state ERSS websites for ease of citizen in availing immediate assistance.

The ERC has been integrated with police (100), fire (101), health (108) and women (1090) helpline numbers to provide emergency services through the emergency number ‗112‘

The centre had allocated Rs 321.69 crore for the project Along with Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya

Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra and Telangana are the states to take up the project on February 19

The number can be accessed by long-pressing the number 5 or 9 in an ordinary mobile phone, whereas in a smartphone it can be accessed by pressing the power-on button three times to reach the ERC

It is similar to the 911 all-in-one emergency service in the US Himachal Pradesh became the first state to launch the Emergency Response

Support System (ERSS) with a pan-India single emergency number ‗112‘ in November 2018 - followed by Nagaland in the North east

K Pitchumani – appointed as the vice-chancellor (VC) of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, for a period of 3 years - by governor and chancellor of the university, HE Banwarilal Purohit

He has been appointed to replace K Baskar, who assumed charge in February

2016 Pitchumani has 37 years of teaching experience, authoring 3 books and having

more than 190 research papers to his credit He was awarded UGC Emeritus Professorship in Chemistry in the year 2016 and

given the status of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) emeritus scientist, School of Chemistry in Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU)

He is also a visiting professor in the Academy of Sinica, Taipei and Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

He has served as MKU‘s registrar in-charge and as chancellor nominee

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Aavin – launches full-cream milk (200 ml) at a price of Rs 10 for the first time in the state in Tirunelveli - Tuticorin districts

Similarly, a new high-density milk named ‗Hotel Special‘ prepared exclusively for the hotels and eateries was also launched during the ceremony held in Tirunelveli Reddiyarpatti Aavin office

The Union Cabinet - has approved the proposal for allotment of land

measuring 30 acres to Pasteur Institute of India (PII) for establishment of New Viral Vaccine Manufacturing Unit at Coonoor, Tamil Nadu

The project entails production of Viral Vaccines (like TCA anti-Measles Vaccine, JE Vaccine etc.) and Anti Sera (like Anti Snake Venom and Anti Rabies Sera) at the PII, Coonoor

SCHEMES Mukhyamantri Vridhajan Pension Yojna (MVPY), a universal old age pension

scheme – announced by Bihar Government

The scheme will come into force from April 1, 2019 for all people above 60 years

of age. As per the scheme, except the government servants, all will be eligible for Rs 400

monthly pension irrespective of caste, religion or community. Besides this, the state‘s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced another pension

scheme ‗Bihar Patrakar Samman Yojana (BPSY)‘ of Rs 6,000 for journalists above 60 years of age.

STATES Madhya Pradesh Government - is launching a new mobile ‘App’ - that will

link cow owners with animal husbandry officials and field teams The app will also allow the government to monitor its cow plans and projects in

real time The app, to be launched within a month, is also is expected to cut down on

absenteeism in the department and make staff accountable

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Andhra Pradesh – launches ‘Godavari Mega Aqua Food Park’ at Tundurru

Village in Bhimavaram Mandal, West Godavari District

It is India‘s first aqua mega food park launched exclusively for fish and marine

products processing It was inaugurated by Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat

Kaur Badal on February 12, 2019 It was set up at a cost of Rs 122.60 crore

NATIONAL Prime Minister Narendra Modi - is expected to formally launch the Centre’s

flagship ‘assured income support’ scheme, PM-KISAN, at a farmers‘ rally at Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on February 24

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The scheme called PM-KISAN was announced in interim budget on February 1 As per the scheme, each of nearly 12 crore eligible small and marginal landholder

farmer families who have cultivable land up to two hectares (little less than five acres) will get Rs 6,000 per annum in 3 equal installments every 4 months in a financial year.

The scheme was announced operational with effect from December 1, 2018 and the first installment of Rs 2,000 is to be transferred to bank accounts of each of this category of farmers by March 31, 2019

All such farmers whose details (bank accounts and verification documents) will be uploaded on the dedicated PM-KISAN portal by February 20 will get Rs 2,000 each on February 24, 2019

A new PMAY (U) mobile application – was launched in New Delhi - by Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri - on February 14

The mobile application has been developed to bring beneficiaries directly in

contact with the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) mission. The PMAY (U) mission was launched on June 25, 2015 with the aim to provide

houses to every eligible urban household in India by the year 2022 Around 40 Lakh houses are at various stages of construction and more than 15

lakh houses have already been completed.

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Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of Ayush - launches e- AUSHADHI portal in New Delhi on February 13

It will facilitate online licensing of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy

drugs and related matters e-AUSHADHI is an acronym for Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy

Automated Drug Help Initiative The portal aims to increase transparency in processing of licensing for the

manufacturers of drugs along with providing the details of cancelled and spurious drugs with contact details of the concerned authority for specific grievances

COURT VERDICT Justice S M Subramaniam of the Madras high court - has become the first

judge in the country to voluntarily go under continuous CCTV monitoring in his chamber

He had strongly recommended that the official chambers of all higher officials in

the state be secured similarly to avoid instances of sexual harassment and safeguard the interests of women employees

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INTERNATIONAL Europe’s Airbus – has decided to stop the production of its world’s largest

airliner, A380 – due to dwindling sales of the superjumbo cruiseliner It was designed to challenge Boeing‘s legendary 747, with 2 decks of spacious

cabins and room for 544 people in standard layout According to Airbus, the last A380 would be delivered in 2021

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It took a charge of 463 million euros for shutdown costs, with over the 3,000-3,500

jobs potentially affected. Airbus will produce 17 more of the planes including 14 for Emirates and 3 for

Japanese airline ANA. The move is prompted by the new order of Emirates for smaller 40 A330-900neo

jets and 30 A350-900 aircraft – as part of its restructuring Emirates is the largest A380 customer of Airbus, with 100 of the Airbus

superjumbos in its fleet Making its maiden flight in 2005, the A380 was a major step in Airbus‘s efforts to

compete on equal terms with Boeing

INDIA AND NEIGHBOURS India - withdrew the ‘Most-Favoured Nation’ status accorded to Pakistan on

February 15, 2019 The decision follows the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that led to

the killing of 37 CRPF personnel and injuring of many others The most favoured nation (MFN) status was accorded in 1996 under WTO's

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The special status is accorded, by default, from one state to another in

international trade – to receive equal trade advantages The decision to review the MFN status accorded to Pakistan was first thought off

in the wake of Uri attack. Pakistan‘s industry will be highly impacted by this move, especially its basic

chemicals and cotton sectors, which were dependent on Indian exports

CONFERENCES & SUMMITS 3rd Indo-German Environment Forum - was held in New Delhi on February

13, 2019

Theme - "Cleaner Air, Greener Economy" Inaugurated by – Dr Harsh Varadhan, Union Environment Minister It saw participation from around 250 representatives of ministries, business and

science as well as non-governmental organisations During the forum, 2 declarations were signed - to clean air and combat air

pollution along with preparing specific reference documents for textile sector

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Indo-US Commercial Dialogue and the Indo-US CEO Forum – were held on February 14, 2019 in New Delhi

The Indian side was headed by Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation Minister,

Suresh Prabhu, and the US side by Mr. Wilbur Ross, US Commerce Secretary. The co-chairs for the US- India CEO Forum are Natarajan Chandrasekaran,

Chairman of Tata Sons and James Taiclet, Chairman, President and CEO of American Tower Corporation

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT SaaS major, Zoho-backed team of 50 engineers – creates India’s first LTE

Chipset in Bengaluru

Sridhar Vembu, founder of Zoho, calls the creation ―one-of-a kind in India‖ With this eight year long project, Zoho‘s team would potentially be taking on giants

such as Qualcomm, Intel, Huawei and others, head on. An IIT-Madras alumnus, Vembu is credited with building Zoho‘s mail and chat

services, which the US National Security Agency (NSA) has found it difficult to crack part of its mass surveillance

Vembu is also planning to open a top-notch research and development center in

his home town of Thattuvanjeri near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu A detailed announcement regarding the invention will be made by the company

within the next two weeks

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NASA’s Opportunity rover, the longest lived robot ever sent from Earth to another planet - is confirmed ‘officially’ dead on February 13, 2019

Eight months ago, NASA lost contact with the Opportunity rover on Mars which

was hit by a giant dust storm destroying its solar power panels The golf cart-size rover was designed to last only 90 Martian days, but it lasted

5,111 days until its last transmission. (A Martian day is 40 minutes longer than an Earth day)

The steady stream of photographs and data from Opportunity — and from its twin rover, Spirit, which stopped in March 2010 — brought Mars closer to people on Earth

Opportunity landed on Mars on January 24, 2004, three weeks after its twin, Spirit, which set down on the opposite side of the planet.

Opportunity (and Spirit) made some stunning discoveries, including the presence of gypsum, which is formed from mineral-rich water and suggests Mars‘s surface once had much more water.

It also discovered the mineral hematite on the surface, another sign the planet had a wetter past

Opportunity even spotted the Martian version of a solar eclipse, as the planet‘s moons, Deimos and Phobos, traversed the sun

In its time on Mars, Opportunity traveled more than 28 miles in the reddish planet

APPOINTMENTS Sushil Chandra, currently chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes

(CBDT) - has been appointed as an election commissioner

The appointment fills the only vacancy in the Election Commision of India (EC),

which has two election commissioners apart from the chief election commissioner Chandra, a 1980 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, is one of the rare

non-Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers to be appointed to the post

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Chandra‘s term as CBDT chairman, a post he is holding since November 2016, ends on 31 May 2019

He will join chief election commissioner Sunil Arora and election commissioner Ashok Lavasa in the constitutional body

AWARDS

President, Ram Nath Kovind – to present the Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony on February 18, 2019 at Pravasi Bhartiya Kendra, New Delhi

The winners Rajkumar Singhajit Singh, doyen of Manipuri dance – 2014 Bangladesh cultural organization, Chhayanaut – 2015 Ram Sutar Vanji, acclaimed sculptor – 2016

The award was instituted by the Union Government in 2012 to recognise the

contributions made by Rabindranath Tagore to humanity, as part of the commemoration of his 150th Birth Anniversary

It is given annually to individuals, associations, institutions or organisations for their outstanding contribution towards promoting values of cultural harmony

It carries an amount worth Rs one crore, citation in a scroll, a plaque and an exquisite traditional handicraft and handloom item

The first Tagore award was conferred upon Pt. Ravi Shankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012 and the second award was conferred upon Maestro Zubin Mehta in 2013.

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National Film Development Corporation of India - has been declared winner under the Miniratna Category (Category II) by Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) – for exemplary work in the promotion of SC/ST entrepreneurs.

National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC) was incorporated in the year 1975 and it has produced over 300 films so far

SPORTS Umpires, Eloise Sheridan and Mary Waldron – to create history as the first

female duo to officiate in a men’s first grade premier (club) cricket match in Adelaide this weekend

Sheridan and Waldron will stand in a match between Tea Tree Gully and Northern

Districts in Adelaide featuring Australia‘s vice-captain Travis Head Earlier, Sheridan and NSW umpire Claire Polosak officiated in a Women‘s Big

Bash League match between the Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars to become the first female pair to officiate a professional match in Australia

Walsdron, on the other hand, will be officiating in her first men‘s grade match Walsdron played for Ireland in last year‘s International Cricket Council (ICC) T20

World Cup and was also a professional football player.

VANDE BHARAT EXPRESS Prime Minister Narendra Modi – to flag off India's first Semi High Speed

Train, ‘Vande Bharat Express’ on New Delhi-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi route from the New Delhi Railway Station on February 15

It is regarded as a successor to the Shatabdi Express, which were introduced in 1988

It was designed and developed by Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in a record 18 months period at a budget of nearly Rs 100 crore

Its former General Manager, Sudhanshu Mani was the brain behind the project

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TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES IN THE LAST 2 YEARS

PONGAL GIFT The government announced a cash dole of Rs1000 for the people of Tamil Nadu

on the eve of Pongal festival in 2019. The announcement benefitted the green ration card holders in the state. Although the initial order that enveloped all ration card holders in Tamil Nadu was

struck down by the court, many families under the poverty line benefitted from the scheme, especially during the pongal festival time this year.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION SCHEME Very recently, the chief minister also introduced a scheme for families below

poverty line by which the recipients will receive a cash compensation of Rs 2000. The scheme is expected to benefit over 35 lakh families in the rural areas of Tamil

Nadu and about 25 lakh families in urban Tamil Nadu. A sum of Rs 1200 crores has been set apart for the scheme.

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The chief minister also announced that the poverty alleviation scheme was being implemented as a redressal measure the underprivileged who were hit severely by cyclone Gaja.

Besides this, the drought brought on by the failure of monsoons had robbed many poor families who depended on daily-wage labour of their income.

The supplementary income scheme would especially be of assistance to those working in fire-cracker units, salt pans, crockery making, leather industry, construction labour, craftsmen, weaving industry and such.

KUDIMARAMATHU PROJECT In the second half of the year, chief minister increased the funds for the

Kudimaramathu scheme that was introduced to restore the water bodies in the state.

An ambitious project by the government, it was launched by the chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on March 13, 2017 and administrative sanction was accorded for 1,519 works at a cost of Rs 100 crore in 30 districts of the state

Around 1,513 works was completed in the same year. For the year 2017-2018, the 100 crore rupees originally allotted in 2016 was

tripled to about 328 crore rupees. The government also appointed seven IAS officers to oversee the progress of the

projects across the districts in Tamil Nadu. More than 2000 lakes will be revived for use, under the scheme. Construction of dams, supply channels and the canals as required, are also being

planned. PLASTIC BAN On June 5th 2018, the Tamil Nadu government announced a policy that made the

environmentalists in the state happy. In a move to make the state plastic-free, the government proclaimed a ban on the

use of several plastic items from January 2019. The ban was brought in under the Environment Protection Act, 1986. In a government order, it was mentioned how usage of plastic bags and other

plastic items used in our daily lives caused short term and long term environmental damage besides being harmful to one‘s health.

Around 14 ‗use and throw‘ items such as plastic bags, plastic sheets used for wrapping food or spreading on dining table, plastic plates and tumblers and straws were banned by the state government.

According to the official announcement, ―No industry or person shall manufacture, store, supply, transport, sale or distribute ‗use and throwaway‘ plastic.

No person including shopkeeper, vendor, wholesaler, retailer, trader, hawker or salesmen shall use ‗use and throwaway‘ plastic.‖

Over 429 tonnes of plastic waste generated in Chennai alone is expected to be curtailed by the ban.

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AMMA TWO-WHEELER SCHEME In February 2018, the ‗Amma‘ two wheeler scheme was launched by the prime

minister in Chennai. The scheme was introduced to honour one of the promises of former CM, Late J

Jayalalithaa in the electoral manifesto. The scheme subsidises the cost of two-wheelers by almost 50% The state government had also increased the subsidy amount to Rs 25000 from

Rs 20000. Over 9000 women in Chennai alone have benefitted from the scheme. A quota of 4% is being allocated exclusively for women with disabilities.

GLOBAL INVESTOR’S MEET After the successful completion of the first global investor‘s meet held under

former chief minister Late J. Jayalalithaa, the second edition of the meet took place on January 23rd and 24th this year.

According to the chief minister, Edappadi Palanisamy, over 10 lakh jobs are expected to be created in the state as a result.

Memoranda of understanding worth three lakh crores were signed during the event

Over 12,300 memoranda were also signed as part of the meet and are expected to attract investments worth Rs 32,206 crores.

While medium and small scale industries continued to attract investments, school, higher education and tourism besides office infrastructural spaces also seemed to be favoured

Tamil Nadu that has been hailed as the ‗Detroit of India‘ will continue to live up to its name thanks to the electric car and related spare parts manufacturing companies eyeing the destination.

Companies from China and Finland are looking at investing heavily in this segment.

Several foreign companies and home brands like MRF have committed to launch multi-crore projects in the state.

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